


Paired

by ArgentSleeper



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 02:38:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5989192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentSleeper/pseuds/ArgentSleeper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin has a secret he's apparently willing to share with everyone but Arthur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paired

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by PostSecret. All credit for the concept of the postcards goes to them, though I promise I stole no one's secrets (that I know of).
> 
> All credit for turning me into the sap to end all saps goes to Kitty and the Merlin Writer's theme.

 

 

Arthur frowned and leaned back in his office chair. This wasn’t him. He didn’t get his kicks reading about other peoples’ woes. He’d just followed a link embedded in a post that had been on the side of an article sent to him by his sister. But now here he was, staring at a postcard on his computer screen, somehow 100% certain it had been submitted by his boyfriend.

That was his ridiculous handwriting. Even if Arthur hadn’t recognized that, the idiot had used an actual photo of them, the one Arthur loved from the night of Morgana’s wedding.

But Merlin couldn’t really be leaving. It was impossible. Merlin’s entire life was here in Camelot. His parents, his cousins Gwen and Elyan, his best mate Lancelot, his childhood friend Will, his favourite barista Freya who always gave him an extra dollop of whip cream at no charge. All of them were _here_ , not in some stupid country overseas that didn’t even have a proper appreciation for tea.

Oh, and Arthur. Arthur was here too.

He couldn’t believe Merlin had kept this from him. They _lived_ together, for crying out loud. Arthur had plans after work to go home and fold Merlin’s _socks._

If Merlin left, his socks would never be folded again. Merlin didn’t believe in paired socks. Without Arthur Merlin would soon be wearing one pink sock and one orange sock and would probably be fired for unprofessionalism and sent home in tears. Merlin _needed_ Arthur. He was right, he couldn’t survive a day without him.

And Arthur… Arthur was fairly certain he couldn’t even breathe without Merlin.

Since they’d met three years ago, Arthur’s world had been turned upside down. But it wasn’t until that happened that Arthur realized he’d been looking the wrong direction all this time. Merlin was like colour in his grey world, like sun on a cloudy day, like- well, like the perfect man to turn “Austere Arthur” into the biggest sap in the universe.

Now if only he could get Merlin to believe it. He knew his partner all too well. Merlin would never ask Arthur to come with him. He would wait until the last moment, make his excuses about how Arthur would be better off without him, and then leave without giving Arthur a chance to speak a word in protest. Because Merlin was so damn self-sacrificing it would never occur to him that Arthur would give up his life in Camelot, business inheritance and all, to be with him, wherever that may be.

He’d miss Morgana, and Uther would spend a few months having a conniption, but that’s what they made video chat and conference calls for. Arthur had long been a believer in having it all, and it was all nothing without Merlin.

He couldn’t even bring himself to feel embarrassed when he spent an hour that night framing his shot, taking and retaking the photo so many times he almost ran out of room on the camera. Then he scrawled his note, scanned it in, and sent it off to the website.

Then a few days later Arthur stared at a new postcard on his computer screen, and he waited for his phone to ring.

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
